BISHOP ETON WAR MEMORIAL: THE REALLY UNEXPECTED UPDATE!
Between 2014 and 2018 I wrote short pieces about the men named on Bishop Eton’s war memorial. I never thought to be writing an update. Thanks to an article appearing in the Liverpool Echo on 25 March 2023, I can add some details to the piece about 2nd Lieutenant Wilfrid John Massey-Lynch who died 4 April 1918 whilst serving on the Western Front.
At the time that I wrote of 2nd Lieutenant Massey-Lynch it was believed that he had no known grave. However, thanks to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission and to ‘war detectives’ his resting place has been identified after 105 years. His nameless grave has been supplied with a new ‘named’ headstone. This was unveiled at a service on 23 March 2023 in Crucifix Corner Cemetery at Villers-Bretonneux in northern France.
2nd Lieutenant Massey-Lynch was born in 1893 in Seaforth, attended Stonyhurst, worked in a Liverpool bank, married and emigrated to Australia. He chose to return to England to serve in the 3rd Dragoon Guards. He was killed on active service on 4 April 1918.
Janet Hollinshead
